Hydrant Armor

ABSTRACT

HYDRANT ARMOR is an enclosure that protects fire hydrants from all weather and environmental conditions and has light reflective features incorporated on the exterior of the enclosure to ensure its visibility in darkness. When fitted with a tall reflective post, fire hydrants can be located even when they are covered in snow. Hydrant valves and hose connection caps are protected from natural elements and corrosion while they are within the hollow enclosure. The enclosure is suspended off the ground so as not to become frozen to the ground, and is held in place with an integral bracket that is attached to the hydrant. The open bottom of the enclosure fits over and locks onto the bracket and can be removed from the hydrant without tools. The conical shape of the enclosure, tapered at the bottom, will prevent the enclosure from binding in deep snow.

HYDRANT ARMOR is an enclosure that protects fire hydrants from allweather conditions and has light reflective features incorporated on theexterior of the enclosure to ensure its visibility in darkness. Whenfitted with a tall reflective post, hydrants can be located even whenthey are covered in snow. Hydrant valves and hose connection caps areprotected from natural elements and corrosion while they are within thehollow enclosure. The enclosure is suspended off the ground so as not tobecome frozen to the ground, and is held in place with an integralbracket that is attached to the hydrant. The open bottom of theenclosure fits over and locks onto the bracket and can be removed fromthe hydrant without tools. The conical shape of the enclosure, taperedat the bottom, will prevent the enclosure from binding in deep snow.Hydrants enclosed with Hydrant Armor will require less maintenance asthey will not be exposed to natural corrosive elements. Firefighterswill always have immediate access to fire hydrants that are protectedwith the Hydrant Armor enclosure.

-   -   Provisional Patent #62/453,064, filed Feb. 1, 2017, expired    -   USPTO Customer number: 145573, date mailed Jan . 11, 2017        U.S. Patents that may claim some comparison but are dissimilar:

U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,360 Filed Aug. 30, 2005, expired Oct. 17, 2017. FIREHYDRANT PROTECTIVE COVER AND VISIBILITY MARKER. There are no recordedsales of this mushroom shaped cover. There is no apparent method ofconnecting this cover to a hydrant. This cover sits directly on theground so it has the potential for it to become frozen to the groundthereby rendering the enclosed hydrant inaccessible and thereforeinoperable. And with its 5 foot height and 5 foot width at the top, itis unstable and prone to fall absent of any method to hold it in place.The inventor suggests using a chain connection to prevent theft butfails to describe how to connect a chain.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,462 Filed Mar. 25, 2003, expired May 12, 2015. FIREHYDRANT COVER. There may be limited sales but there is no currentactivity. Its tent like design has a wide bottom and narrow top. Anyamount of snow will “anchor” this cover to the ground rendering theenclosed hydrant inaccessible and therefore inoperable as snow willaccumulate at increasing rates along the diminishing upward width of thecover. The time required to remove snow and ice from this cover to gainaccess to the hydrant would potentially exceed the time it would take toclear snow and ice from an unprotected hydrant. Additionally, thedescribed method of attaching this cover to the hydrant at ground levelcould make the cover's removal even harder and more time consumingespecially after a freeze-thaw-refreeze cycle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1—Profiles of the hydrant enclosure at right angles to each other:Profile 1 shows the enclosure handles 3 at a side view. Profile 2 showsa handle 3 along its horizontal grip. Air vents 4 are located under thehandles 3. The diameter at the bottom 5 is smaller than the diameter atthe top 6 of the conical cylinder. The dome 7 is curved with a cap 8 atthe center. A reflective post (not shown) may be attached to the cap 8.The conical cylinder (at) 6 and the dome 7 are separated from each otherwith a band 9 which incorporates the handles 3 and air vents 4.

FIG. 2—A top view of the hydrant enclosure: The cap 8 is in the centerand has a hole to install a reflective post. The outside circumferenceof the band 9 incorporates the handles 3.

FIG. 3—A view of the underside of the hydrant enclosure: Here, theopening 10 is shown where the enclosure fits over a fire hydrant andconnects to a bracket (described in FIG. 4) that is attached to the firehydrant.

FIG. 4—A top view of the bracket: The bracket 11 is attached to a firehydrant along the bracket's inner circumference 12 and fits to the outercircumference of the barrel of a fire hydrant. The bracket 11 hasvarious positions 13 along its inner circumference to allow for varyingdiameter sizes of fire hydrant barrels when used in conjunction withmovable tabs (described in FIG. 6).

FIG. 5—A perspective view of the bracket in position in the enclosure:The bracket 11 incorporates tongues 14 located around its outercircumference. The tongues 14, inclusive of built-in retaining locks 15,slide into channels located inside of the enclosure (described in FIG.7) to hold and lock the hydrant enclosure 1 in place on the hydrant.

FIG. 6—Tabs: Tabs 16 are set along the inner circumference 12 of thebracket 11 to securely grip the bracket 11 to a hydrant.

FIG. 7—Cross section of lower part of the enclosure: Channels 17 areemployed to accept the tongues 14 of the bracket 11.

FIG. 8—Cut-a-way and close-up integration of the bracket and enclosure:This view shows the hydrant enclosure 1 attached to the bracket 11, withthe tongue 14 of the bracket 11 inside the channel 17 on the interior ofthe hydrant enclosure 1.

FIG. 9—The installed hydrant enclosure: This view illustrates that theinstalled enclosure 1 completely encapsulates the hydrant's valves andhose connection caps and further illustrates that the hydrant enclosureis suspended off the ground.

1. An enclosure that will protect a fire hydrant's valves and hoseconnection caps from all weather conditions by encapsulating the valvesand hose connection caps within the enclosure's hollow body.
 2. Lightreflective features incorporated onto the exterior of the enclosure tomake the hydrant's location visible in darkness.
 3. A method to attach areflective post to the enclosure so that a hydrant can be located evenwhen the enclosed hydrant is fully covered in deep snow.
 4. An integralbracket that is attached to a fire hydrant to hold and suspend theenclosure off the ground and hold the enclosure in place on the firehydrant.
 5. A method of attaching the bracket to a fire hydrantincluding a way of adjusting the inner diameter of the bracket to fit avariety of different sized hydrants.
 6. A method to join the enclosureto the bracket at the open bottom of the enclosure allowing theenclosure to be secured to the fire hydrant.
 7. A fire hydrant enclosurethat is quickly and easily removed from a hydrant for firefighting orfor maintenance utilizing a simple movement to disengage the enclosurefrom the bracket without the use of tools.
 8. A fire hydrant enclosurethat, when installed on a fire hydrant, is suspended off the ground soas not to become frozen to the ground.
 9. A fire hydrant enclosure thathas a conical shape with a bottom diameter smaller than the top diameterto prevent the enclosure from binding in heavy snow or ice and withvents to prevent vacuum air locks or suction during removal of theenclosure.
 10. A fire hydrant enclosure with built-in handles toaccommodate hand gripping for attaching and removing the enclosure. 11.A fire hydrant enclosure that may stay attached to a fire hydrantyear-round.
 12. A fire hydrant enclosure that may reduce the frequencyof maintenance by protecting fire hydrants from corrosive environmentaleffects or from any other natural causes of deterioration.
 13. A firehydrant enclosure that provides a buffer around the hard surface of afire hydrant to protect pedestrians and reduce injury when pedestrianscollide or otherwise come in contact with fire hydrants.
 14. A firehydrant enclosure that will not impede with the function of a hydrant.15. A fire hydrant enclosure that may be red in color or may be anycolor, and that may contain lettering and/or graphic designs on itsexterior.